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Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

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Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#61

Post by javajosh »

qznc wrote: post #50
javajosh wrote: post #20

It is outrageous, but it's not new. About 2 years ago I sold an item through the marketplace, shipped through Amazon, and at +30 days the buyer requested to return (my return policy stated no returns after 30 days). I ignored him, and then he filed a "Did not receive item" complaint with Amazon. They refunded him $250 and billed me $250. I fought it, using email, multiple phone calls (a trial in and of itself), showi…

The big internet platforms are very customer friendly and increasingly seller hostile. It is the same thing with PayPal/Ebay for example. I have no problem buying on Amazon or via PayPal, but I would never sell through them.

eBay is pretty scary as a seller, I have to admit. The high volume people take it and chalk it up to the cost of doing business; unlucky individuals can get really, really hurt if they run into an unscrupulous buyer.

I worked for BrickLink for a time (a niche online marketplace for adult Lego fans) and I was surprised at how smoothly that place ran, which is actually a big reason to prefer niche marketplaces if they exist. Community, and reputation, means something there, whereas with the huge world-spanning monster markets you're just another face in the crowd, which is great news for criminals who know that police can't and won't pursue online property crime.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#62

Post by rexaliquid »

javajosh wrote: post #20

It is outrageous, but it's not new. About 2 years ago I sold an item through the marketplace, shipped through Amazon, and at +30 days the buyer requested to return (my return policy stated no returns after 30 days). I ignored him, and then he filed a "Did not receive item" complaint with Amazon. They refunded him $250 and billed me $250. I fought it, using email, multiple phone calls (a trial in and of itself), showi…

I'm curious why you ignored the return request. Was the nature of the product one that made you suspicious of fraud?

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#63

Post by Judson »

jasode wrote: post #39

It's interesting how each market platform is trying to tweak the equilibrium of honest/dishonest buyers vs honest/dishonest sellers. Beyond Amazon specifically, the big picture trend is that any marketplace of 3rd-party sellers which includes eBay, PayPal, Uber, Airbnb, etc will always tilt the advantage towards the buyers. E.g. Buyer scams sellers by claiming he got a bad product and Paypal will instantly issue a ch…

Anecdotal, but I've had the opposite experience on Airbnb. A situation arose where I would have certainly received a partial refund from a hotel, and when in arbitration, Airbnb sided w/ the seller (landlord?) and there was no refund.

Basically my word vs the seller's, as things tend to be in online disputes. Not a lot of money spent, so it's not a huge issue, but makes me lean towards hotels unless Airbnb is much cheaper.

As a seller on many of the other platforms mentioned (and as a CC merchant), you are correct. Good luck winning any dispute. Best course of action is to simply try and get the product back and take the hit on shipping.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#64

Post by jermaustin1 »

heartbreak wrote: post #25
spython wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, they do it for stuff like pillows already, especially cheap ones - it's hard to resell, so they'll eat the cost.

I’ve had it happen when I ordered a CAT6 cable I ended up not needing. I tried to return it and they never send a shipping label. I called support and they said to keep it. This was ~2 years ago and an easy item to resell.

I don't want a used network cable... Someone else's bits have been all through that. Gross.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#65

Post by TorKlingberg »

It makes sense for Amazon to rein in third-party sellers. Amazon needs them to fill out the catalog and cover the long tail of products, but poor customer experiences damage Amazon's brand. I'm sure it upsets sellers, but this is part of selling through Amazon. If I have to email back and forth with the seller before I can return a defective item, why should I buy on Amazon instead of eBay?

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#66

Post by canadianwriter »

fenwick67 wrote: post #6

> Additionally, Amazon said that it's introducing "returnless refunds," a feature that the company said is "highly requested by sellers." The change enables sellers to offer a refund without taking back an item that may be expensive to ship and hard to resell. Wow, I can literally just say "I don't like it", and there's a chance they'll literally just give me my money back, but let me keep it?

That actually just happened to me! I got a bracelet I was very unhappy with. I hit the return button and it said I don't have to send them anything back. It was kind of crazy!

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#67

Post by richthegeek »

sxates wrote: post #60

Anecdotal experience buying on Amazon recently: Bought a new induction cooking pan. A nice one at $90. Didn't really pay much attention to who was selling it, just bought it like I do everything else from Amazon. It took about two weeks to arrive because it was from an independent seller, and was not 'Prime eligible'. When it arrived, I took it out of the box and was immediately disappointed. It was really heavy, and…

Wow, I really am amazed how few consumer protections you seem to have!

In the UK we're protected on two levels: firstly the "Distance Selling Regulation" means we have the right to cancel many contracts/purchases made not-in-person within 14 days of delivery.

And secondly, if a good is faulty, not as described, or unfit for purpose then we have a right to a refund under those terms also.

Probably because of these already strong rights, Amazon UK (and most retailers) go beyond that and simply offer a 30 day "no questions asked" return policy in most cases.

I didn't realise until now how much I took it for granted!

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#68

Post by holtalanm »

Observation:

Don't care in the slightest about the third-party vendors' complaints. Amazon can control THEIR SITE how they want to control it. They own the site. Don't like their policies? Take your shop elsewhere.

I already stopped trusting third-party vendors on Amazon a LONG time again.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#69

Post by _Codemonkeyism »

richthegeek wrote: post #67
sxates wrote: post #60

Anecdotal experience buying on Amazon recently: Bought a new induction cooking pan. A nice one at $90. Didn't really pay much attention to who was selling it, just bought it like I do everything else from Amazon. It took about two weeks to arrive because it was from an independent seller, and was not 'Prime eligible'. When it arrived, I took it out of the box and was immediately disappointed. It was really heavy, and…

Wow, I really am amazed how few consumer protections you seem to have! In the UK we're protected on two levels: firstly the "Distance Selling Regulation" means we have the right to cancel many contracts/purchases made not-in-person within 14 days of delivery. And secondly, if a good is faulty, not as described, or unfit for purpose then we have a right to a refund under those terms also. Probably because of these alr…

Similiar in Germany.

Re: Amazon's new refunds policy will 'crush' small businesses, outraged sellers say

#70

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

ghostly_s wrote: post #59
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you want to get to determine the rules of the game, you have to build your own playing field. Amazon is basically a monopoly, I'd like to know how you imagine a small business competing against them. And why should a small shoe/fidget-spinner/alibaba-reselling business need to build their own shopping website anyways? "Platforms" should be free.

How are they a monopoly exactly? I can google " for sale" easily enough.

Look at it from the other direction. Little moves by them, like what's described in the article, can kill off all sorts of small businesses. How else would that be possible without extreme amounts of market power?
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